


country roads, take me home

by euphiliacs



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Farmer Kita Shinsuke, Light Angst, M/M, Only Yesterday AU, Pro Volleyball Player Ushijima Wakatoshi, Slow Burn, farming, unexpected pregnant cow delivery, ushijima trying and failing and trying again at cultivating
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-29
Updated: 2020-06-29
Packaged: 2021-03-04 01:49:12
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 6,111
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24975619
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/euphiliacs/pseuds/euphiliacs
Summary: pro voleyball player Ushijima Wakatoshi (was forced) takes a break in Hyogo's rural countryside for the annual rice paddy harvest festival But he never would've thought that he met another fellow ex-voleyball player captain working in the fields.
Relationships: Kita Shinsuke & Ushijima Wakatoshi, Kita Shinsuke/Ushijima Wakatoshi, Tendou Satori & Ushijima Wakatoshi
Comments: 17
Kudos: 87





	country roads, take me home

**Author's Note:**

> it would be a shame to not include the inspiration to this fic which was THIS ARTWORK BY @mi_ncf1 ON TWITTER!!! the farmersonly dot com thing was heavily inspired by this (pls give them some love) https://twitter.com/mi_ncf1/status/1275938987795001344?s=20
> 
> and also the beloved ghibli movie "only yesterday" which was also the core refference and inspiration for this entire fic.

"....farmersonly.com?"

Ushijima leaned slightly against his couch, staring quizzically down the only source of light in the room that is his laptop screen. Its 2 am in the morning and Tendou just had to call him to break the (bad) good news. Here's hoping that he won’t go blind from the brightness of his screen.

"C'mon, Wakatoshi, you can't just spend the rest of your holidays hanging out with me or visiting California back to back!"

"...but I like California"

"Geez. Okay, moneybags. Say that again when your wallet's all empty. _Plus_ you were so crazy about farming back in high school now, where did that Wakatoshi go?"

It’s not like he's obsessed with farming. He just likes the philosophy behind it.

And he never exactly tried farming or harvesting crops before, nor does he dislike Tendou's idea on fixing him up with a farmer on that farmers website thing. One of the reasons he played along with Tendou's never-ending shindig was because he really had nothing better to do.

Or it may be because he’s afraid of things he isn’t familiar with

Like farming.

But we don’t talk about that. He never wants to talk about that.

He would've been fine staying home for the whole days-off but it would be....boring.

He's fine with boring. It’s just that there's this bitter feeling staying at the back of his head saying that holidays are supposed to be spent with your family and friends.

Of course, he's got a family. He's got his dad. But more recently he told him to find something for himself to enjoy (not volleyball. Probably he meant a ‘special’ friend) rather than going back and forth to California on every holiday season to visit. And of course, he's got his buddies--teammates. If one of them weren't so busy dating the msby's Ninja Shouyou, or mostly spending their time with their own families and loved ones at home or...I dont know, try something new?

Yes, perhaps.

Perhaps Ushijima might take this on.

...

Before he knew it, he was taking a bullet train straight to Hyogo.

Normally he thought that sleeping through the way was the fastest cheat that can get you through a long journey, without needing to look at the endlessly green pastures or white buildings and whatnot. And like most pseudo-science that man-kind made up, he was proven horribly wrong. He slept for a good half-an-hour and Hyogo still feels like an eternity away. At least he didn’t miss the ginger-magenta tinted sky and sunrise so he did not regret waking up in the middle of it all entirely.

And ended up hopelessly hanging for his dear life and silently praying for his ear drums at the sound of his old friend histerically laughing over the phone.

“HAHAHA I CAN’T BELIEVE IT! YOU’RE SERIOUSLY ON THE BULLET TRAIN STRAIGHT TO HYOGO?”

So there definitely was something to regret.

“yes…”

More histerical laughter from the other line. This time with a mash-up of an unidentified object getting beaten up(?) in the background.

“WAKATOSHI-KUN, YOU’RE TOO FUNNY”

“it’s alright, Tendou. There’s no need to worry about me. Learning something new is…nice”

“oh yeah, _totally_ ” sniffles from the other line. Is he crying? Ushijima tried not to think about it. “oh, how ever will miracle boy Wakatoshi overcome this labour? I hope you have fun, though. Spice things up with that farmer guy”

Before he could open his mouth to respond, a trail of golden streaks appeared at the corner of his eyes. And there it was. A sight of the rice paddy fields in all of its greatness, illuminated by the sunrise in the horizon. It’s a sight for sore eyes when you are constantly met with countless concrete buildings. Now this was truly a sight to behold.

“what kind of farmer is this…’kita shinsuke’?”

“oh him? I just set both of you up randomly. I think he was a rice farmer? Yeah. Rice farmer. And it’s like an annual harvesting or whatever”

Oh so that was it.

Harvesting sounds…fun.

And what could possibly go wrong?

...

The stations in Hyogo was typically nothing new. Same as the old ones that they have in Miyagi or in Tokyo, but with less people. Or maybe that’s just how it is in the countryside. Or maybe it’s the fact that he just arrived at exactly 5 am in the morning and it felt like he was in an dystopian movie where humanity is extinct.

Ushijima walked past the turnstile gate and looked around the station in search of a taxi, since he couldn’t get ahold of this ‘Kita Shinsuke’ guy’s phone number due to the poor connection on the bullet train and it doesn’t seem like this particular region in the countryside’s helping either. so in summary, all he was doing at this point was roaming around the area like a dog in search of his master.

That is, until something strong grabbed his wrist (in which, he held an abnormally heavy luggage) and was readying his fighting stance to smack down this whole person’s body entirely but he was way too sleep-deprived to do that so instead, turned back and spare a glance at this crook.

And just when he thought nothing could go wrong.

Ushijima’s normal glance was scary enough. But to a stranger, his sleep-deprived glance might’ve looked like that one ghost in insidious that barely anyone remembers what its called but called it scary anyway. But that was what Ushijima looked like

And that’s what he looked like to this stranger

“you look scary…”

“ah”

They held down each other’s gazes for a while. People might’ve thought that they were having a very intense staring contest but none of them even bother to interrupt because both of these men just looked equally terrifying.

The other guy wore something equivalent to what Ushijima would like to call a ‘farmer get-up’, complete with the bandanna and gloves and boots and all that. He’s got a pretty funny looking hair too. White with a bit of dark streaks at the very end.

He seemed familiar, but he can’t put his finger on it.

“...who are you?”

“….Ah,” As if he was slapped back to reality, the farmer looking guy lets go of his wrist. Fixing his posture like he was about to introduce himself “that was rude of me. I’m Kita Shinsuke. From the website. I’m sure you must be Ushijima Wakatoshi, then?”

“Oh”

Oh right.

So it wasn’t a robber.

“I thought you were trying to steal my luggage”

...

Turns out this Kita person has a car. Tiny as it is, he considers himself lucky to just squeeze in the small space with this Kita person and not complain. Lucky enough for Ushijima that he doesn’t need to do the necessary precautions of running around the vicinity at 5 am in the morning in search of a ride like a weirdo. this Kita person is like a god.

The ride to the address destination was nothing more than quiet, along with the company of what it seemed like Hungarian folk music to John Denver’s 'take me home, country roads’ playing on his radio.

“See, we don’t normally have visitors like you around here…” Kita decided to break the silence.

“Oh, my friend set me up for it…” _because I had nothing better to do_ , Ushijima almost blurted. remembering his pride and the risks of second-hand embarrassment. 

“That makes two of us then. I don’t think my friend understood when I said I don’t wanna get married sooner and later”

 _That makes the two of us indeed_ , Ushijima thought.

“But arriving at such a busy harvesting season, I’m sure granny would be happy to have you...”

Upon the mention of the rice harvests, the same golden glow appeared once again in his line of vision. Once again serving such a beautiful view.

“Are we going to harvest these?” the brunette asked, gazed still locked at the golden rice paddies.

“Soon. But we would also be planting some new ones as well for the next season to come. And that’s why you’re here…”

A herd of lambs made their way past across the street, and they slowed down a bit to let the herd pass, And Ushijima ponders about technology. About how human relationships and connections had developed to such an extent to the point where they even let farmers have some. He wondered wether this…farmersonly website was actually similar to that of a dating website. Or was it specifically for farmers to collaborate on cultivating? Or was it for farming _and_ dating? And so started the long chain of questions that came on Ushijima’s mind like the bullet train he just took. Ushijima doesn’t even know the first thing about cultivating to begin with. He’s barely even a farmer. But dating’s a whole different topic entirely. Wether it was dating, farming, or dating farmers, if it meant that he won’t be troubling these people then he wouldn’t mind lending a hand.

Or maybe for the sake of killing time and getting a free bag of rice while you’re at it was alright too.

He doesn’t mind.

“so what becomes of the harvest then…?” by that time, the herd has already passed across and so they started moving again. There was some kind of welcoming vibe that Kita gave. Whatever you ask him he would gladly respond in return, despite how quiet he is and he gets to the point quick.

“A lot of things, actually. We keep some for food in the winter, some for the harvesting festival, and we also supply some for distribution in the city. It’s a very resourceful livestock, you just won’t know who might need them”

  
“Do you usually stay in the city as well then?”

“No…” Kita paused for a moment, his gaze slowly tracing the fine line of morning clouds stretching in the distance “I prefer peace and quiet”

Ushijima might have thought that he and this Kita person may have something in common.

The next few sequences are just Kita talking about the living expenses in the area, pointing out each of his fellow farmer neighbors’ houses along the whole ride, And Ushijima getting bombarded by a bunch of flocking ducks and Kita has to get him out of that situation. They don’t seem to like newcomers.

So far the few things that Ushijima learned about this Kita person: he owns a huge farm, is a rice farmer, is living alone with his grandma, is probably really rich, breeds chickens, and owns a pregnant female cow called Momo that is expecting soon.

And prefers peace and quiet. Just like he does.

So far so good.

“okay, now get changed”

Wait what.

“we’re gonna plant the seedlings…”

...

If there's one thing that Ushijima dislikes the most it’s the feeling of not being able to understand anything.

He forgot that in order to be a farmer you're going to have to farm and cultivate.

That is something that he had absolutely have no idea about.

But he swore to himself that at the end of this one week trip he's going to have to learn something new or at least bring a bag of rice home. Of course, it doesn’t go as smoothly as planned but he expected this much.

What he did not expect was that it would be this early in the morning. And the fact that he’s a bit sleep-deprived due to Tendou calling him at 2 am in the morning didn’t seem to help either. if anything, he was doing quite a messy job than ever. he said something along the lines of 'its better to do it early because the soil was at its best'. so there was a reason behind why Kita was so early to pick him up. 

He has tried and failed and tried and failed again to plant down and take care of the seedlings properly. The only successful ones are the ones that Kita specifically helped him with. He would crouch down next to the larger man and say something along the lines of "like this" and demonstrated it-- and patted the ground underneath the murky water like so-- just like a mother would to a child. Ushijima's eyes would gleam in awe at Kita's handiwork every time he tries to help him with his, as if his hands were that of a sculptor.

He's got to admit that Kita was crazy good at this

"Kita-san" Ushijima asked at the midst of their seed planting.

"Hm?"

"How did you get so good?"

Kita straighten up and stretched. Perhaps he was wondering the answer to that as well.

"Well. I _am_ a rice farmer."

"Oh...." This time his hand was on his hips and he was staring up the blue sky. Stealing a glance at the tiny sparrows flying by.

“Of course”

...

They have been tending to the crops the entire day and Evening arrived like a headache that comes and goes. Ushijima thought he flunked the first day completely, but Kita told him that he was doing an ‘ok’ job, so that kind of gave him hope and proceeded to tell him to quickly take a shower because they smelt like sunlight, turd, and sweat mixed in one. Ever the bluntest, this Kita person.

He still can’t shake off that feeling of being a total beginner. But everybody’s got to start somewhere. He had come to terms with that fact. And that’s okay. It would only be a week left anyway. It’s not like it could get worse.

At times like these is when he really misses volleyball. And it made him half-regret being here.

Just when he was heading out to take a stroll around the vicinity after dinner something really hard (and squishy) made contact with the back of his head. He quickly made a full 180 with his neck, his sleep-deprived insidious ghost look made a comeback. Surely, he was so convinced that nobody played in this neighborhood. But as it turns out—

It was the Kita person.

“ah sorry, I was about to put this on that box in the corner-“

“do you play?”

Silence enveloped them. And when Kita responded with a somewhat exaggerating nod, Ushijima’s eyes sparked as if it was trying to recreate a personification of that Spiderman pointing at each other meme that Kageyama showed him just a little while ago, but in this case with each of their sparkling--though bloodshot--eyes piercing through each other instead of their own actual index fingers.

From all the day’s work, he just hope he isn’t sucking the last remaining living life force that’s left in Kita to sate his own homesickness.

“so you’re an Inarizaki graduate?” Ushijima asked as he cleanly received the incoming ball back to Kita.

“I played in high school. Was the team captain. I also saw your game last year with the Black Jackals. My old friend was playing there too. You guys were exceptionally good…”

There’s something sort of like an indescribable joy when you find people who share similar hobbies and interests as you. It made Ushijima feel like he wasn’t completely alone. He was lucky and glad enough once again to have let Kita accidentally smack his head with the volleyball. He really is like a god.

“y’know, I was a bit shocked that _the_ Ushijima Wakatoshi came to visit around here. But I didn’t say anything until now because I thought you came all this way to escape the fame and paparazzi”

Well. Yes and no. he doesn’t mind the paparazzi or fans approaching him to ask him for his autograph. But avoiding paparazzi wasn’t the actual reason he was here.

“I just prefer peace and quiet” Ushijima echoed what the farmer had said to him this morning. It resonated very well with him.

“that makes two of us” Kita smiled warmly and receives the other ball into the air.

“Ushijima-san, earlier you asked me how I got so good” another clean one from Ushijima and Kita caught the ball in his hands, and changed his position to that of an upperhand receive. His gaze was fixated on the ball but it was clear that his mind was elsewhere. Perhaps he was also wondering the answer to that as well.

“…you just got to do it over and over again. Until you’re satisfied. Until you’re good…” eyes still in the air, before he threw it right back at the pro, the latter also changing his position “…just like you with volleyball”

“ah”

So that was it.

Just like volleyball.

...

The next following days was gradually a bit easier for Ushijima.

He tried and failed and tried and failed and tried again but most of his seedlings are successfully planted, some without the help of Kita even. And he was beginning to feel proud of himself. The encouragement Kita gave was a bonus. A bonus that he oddly crave so badly at the end of every seed planting session that these two had. If Ushijima was a dog then at the end of every session he would wound up with his tail wagging erratically at Kita’s praise everytime. Despite the paparazzi ducks that constantly plucked and followed and serenaded him and Kita everywhere after seed planting session, to the point they both had to run away and hide like two lovers in an indie movie, He had fun.

They both had.

And then finally, the last day came like a blow of the wind.

The harvesting day.

Where all of Kita’s farmer neighbors gather around to rake out the ripe golden rice stalks that are just begging to be pulled off from the surface of the earth. The harvesting was admittedly the easiest compared to the planting part, which just make this part of the stage satisfying for any farmer to go with.

And most importantly, rice.

Rice meant onigiri.

And onigiri meant there would be a feast.

And there was a feast. every one of Kita’s farmer neighbors gather around in Kita’s huge farm, bearing fruits, dishes, and booze to share with the others to celebrate.

This was the countryside alright.

Sometimes Ushijima thought if the people in the countryside was way more wilder and uncivilized than those in the city when they’re drunk. Okay, scratch uncivilized. that's rude. they’re just wild period.

One of Kita’s farmer neighbors, the goat farmer, Nagisa-san was showing off his high pedigree goat to the other farmers and was announcing that he would sell it for a high price that Ushijima prefer not to recall how much, but it was ridiculously expensive and then cried afterwards saying that he’ll miss his high pedigree goat. He was obviously drunk, of course. Unbeknownst to him, his goat has ran off somewhere eating the unprocessed rice grains that nobody seemed to notice because they were too drunk. Ushijima wondered why he even brought a goat to a harvest party in the first place. 

Ushijima took a sip from his beer and scanned the whole area in search of Kita. in which to his surprise, was somewhere being surrounded by his other drunk farmer neighbors and was pestering him over something about marriage, children, and getting old. He sure was popular.

And Ushijima unconsciously curled up his fingers.

“Are you enjoying the party?”

The sudden inquiry made his body flinch. An old woman made her appearance somewhere behind him and honest to god, he almost didn’t notice her. This must be Kita’s grandmother.

“ah, yes. It’s very…lively. Thank you for having me this whole week”

The old lady smiled, then turned to view the crowds surrounding his grandson “he would probably be alone again once you leave for tomorrow. I won’t be around here for long either. This farm’s too big for him to live in alone…”

Something in his heart almost ached at that statement and it made him even more anxious for some reason. even if he had the chance, would he be able to risk it all for this young farmer? would he be able to be selfless enough to set aside his priorities just to stay a little bit longer?

he took another sip of his beer. The moment Kita walked away from his swarm of drunk friends, Ushijima felt his shoulders relax. He didn’t even realize how tense he were the whole night. perhaps he should see to it.

He excused himself and followed Kita out of the farm.

...

“oh, Ushijima-san,” Kita breaks the silence once again when they’re a few blocks away from the farm “I didn’t even notice you were following me”

“did I scare you?” Ushijima tensed, almost feeling guilty for tailing him.

“no, you’re just really stealthy” he could’ve sworn he heard Kita giggle at the end of that sentence, or maybe he was just deluding himself.

“you got something on your mind?” Kita asked him, almost sounding like a soothing whisper echoing in his ear.

Why is it only now that Ushijima is agonizing over the young farmer when at the very first time he stepped in to this place he didn’t even care who this farmer ends up with at the end of the day. He was even hoping he wasn’t here in the first place. That it would only be a week.

That it would be enough.

“Are you….getting married soon?” he had no problem getting to the point, that’s just how he is as long as he reiterate his words slowly. Trying his best to not offend him.

Kita didn’t seem to mind his straight-forwardness. They are almost alike in some aspects but he can’t help but feel surprised.

“No. Not really. Soon” Kita shifts his weight slowly towards the unripe rice paddy field that they worked on a few days ago “but I’m confident enough that I could survive long without a partner. I don’t like rushing things that doesn’t need any rushing. I just let nature do their thing. Like how the rice paddy fields that we just planted these past few days, They just follow their natural flow”

The statement sounded more like a reassurance rather than a stance, or at least that’s what it sounded like in Ushijima’s ears. 

He realized it wasn’t enough.

But now it seemed like a million dollar question Ushijima constantly asks himself and never seemed to be able to get it off his chest

And if he misses

He wouldn’t have been able to make another shot.

“Kita-san, I-“

"SHINSUKE!"

A scream interrupted their unperturbed silence. In all of his lifetime, he never wanted to murder another human being so bad.

It was Kita's grandmother, panting in short breaths. And sweating. A lot. Did she ran all the way here?

Kita sprinted all the way across the street to get ahold of his grandmother. For the first few weeks this is the first time Ushijima saw kita sporting a different expression other than a blank one.

"Granny, you shouldn't be running so much….you could've called me. What's going on?"

"IT'S MOMO"

He had no idea what's going on, but Ushijima could feel his face turn pale at the mention of that name. He wouldn't even dare to turn to see what Kita’s made out of his face.

"SHE'S HAVING A LABOUR"

...

Ushijima (or Tendou) has signed himself up for farmersonly.com

It would _only_ be rice paddy harvesting they said.

It would be fun they said.

but nobody told him that he had to deliver a whole-ass baby calf.

"Ushijima-san, get the cloth towels now!"

When they arrived at the farm, tiny legs were sticking out of the poor cow's buttocks, the mother's tears visibly running down from her big black eyes, and she was loudly moo-ing erratically in agony. It was a horrifying and pitiful sight to see. And there was a lot of screaming. It was either Kita’s grandmother or his remaining drunk farmer neighbors that came in to watch hence, unreliable in this situation. At least one of the ladies did a good job at soothing the cow and singing lullabies.

And Ushijima still had no idea what's going on.

Kita made a bee-line to the tiny legs that sticks out of Momo's buttocks, and proceeded to put both of his hands in and pulled hard at it. A little bit of the leg was a bit longer now and Ushijima's face was starting to lose color by each passing minute.

"U-Ushijima-san, a-a little help here" Kita called out with all the voice he had left. Probably wasted by the energy he had used to pull half of whatever that leg thing was.

He quickly snapped himself off and rushed to where Kita was and let his hands touch all the blood and grime that seems to be the calf's front leg, Now having the full front view of Momo's seemingly enlarging buttocks. Ushijima could feel half of his soul left his body. Oh god this was terrifying.

He hopes the mother cow isn’t too violent to kick him off with its hind legs and threw him all across the barn and hit something hard that would cause him to have amnesia. Especially if this was his very last day here. But he reminded himself again that this was a cow, Not a bull. Still he has his own concerns.

Upon witnessing this, he was glad to be a man. Or to put it simply, he would never ever underestimate the struggles and the power that women hold for they are incredible beings who could do and withstand something like this.

And for once in his life, he was thankful and sorry to his mother for giving birth to such a giant like him

"Is it ripping apart…?" Ushijima blurted out, sweat trickling down his forehead.

"What? No, of course not. This big gal's flexible” for a second, Kita looked like someone who was constipating. Sweat trickling down his forehead to his chin “Okay now on my mark….PULL!"

In a synchronized motion, they both pulled hard at each count of three's with all their strengths. It's safe to say Kita was glad that Ushijima is a huge muscley monster or else he would probably never get this done. Little by little the tiny calf's head was finally out of the mother's buttocks, and then half of its torso, and finally the whole body.

The calf started to wiggle as it finally set itself free from its mother's womb. They both set down the tiny calf down on the towel and wash off all of the remaining chunks of sliminess, and move it over to the mother to do rest.

The two men wiped the sweat off of their brow. This was hard work. Amidst the series of cheers from Kita’s drunk neighbors in the background, Ushijima was trembling slightly, never having done this in his whole entire life. Looking down on himself now, covered in blood and grime, it almost made him look like a serial killer. His grimacing face and large build was just the other intimidating aspect.

He felt like he wanted to faint.

"Not too bad for your first time. Exhausting, isn't it?" Kita held Ushijima's now slimey arm, rescuing him from the further damage of fainting and falling over in a timber motion. And man he should've worn gloves like Kita did.

Ushijima glanced over to Kita's face, grinning so widely as if he just saw the birth of Jesus. He could've sworn he saw him glowing just now. He seemed unfazed by any of this, it's amazing.

He's amazing.

"Yeah. It was."

Kita chuckled at his response. ever the simplest.

"This is more than just blood, sweat, and tears, Ushijima-san. We just witnessed a once in a life time phenomenon. It's birth, It's life... it's beautiful"

Though covered in all blood and grime just like him, Kita seemed clean and almost abnormally holy, like a deity looking down and appreciating its creation. Now Ushijima can surely tell that his face was glowing. And it's radiating.

He's right.

It's beautiful.

And the world turned black.

...

The next thing he knew it was morning.

The scent of tea and last night’s leftover onigiri at the side of his bed was strong within these walls, along with a note that said “get well”

Going down just the night before he left was not really his preffered way of saying goodbye to this place. Or to Kita. If anything it was embarrassing and he regretted not being able to say the things that he wanted to say. It felt like he was wasting his time.

But at least what happened last night was a miracle. He just witnessed life and Kita.

And specifically, Kita Shinsuke, smiling.

He sat up and took a sip from the tea and took a bite of the onigiri that was beside him all morning. It has gone cold.

He felt like something in his chest was about to break free from his ribs.

...

When the sun was at its highest, Ushijima went to pack his things and meet Kita at the front of his house, for he had promised to see him off to the train station last night before he had fallen unconscious. He also kept him updated on Momo's newborn, telling him that the neighbors had debated about what to call the little one and came to a compromise that they'll name it after Ushijima. For some reason.

Nagisa-san, the goat farmer, could be seen begging for forgiveness and kowtowing at the foot of Kita’s grandmother for letting his goat eat half of the unprocessed crops. Despite the fact that she affectionately patted him a million times in the head telling him that ‘it’s fine’ repeatedly, he still wailed on. Holiday seasons are still a month to go and he’s going to miss the tightness of Kita’s unusually tiny car, his drunk farmer neighbors, the green pastures and this whole place entirely. in all of its charms.

He regretted saying that he regretted being here.

“You got everything?” Kita checked up on all of Ushijima’s abnormally heavy luggage when they arrived at the station. There seemed to be more people at this time of the day. The echoing sound of the intercom seemed more alive.

“yeah…”

“oh right,” he’s got that look like he was slapped back to reality again “I forgot to give you this…”

Kita trotted to the trunk of his car and pulled out a big bag of rice and handed it to Ushijima.

“the fruits of your labor…or something to remember me by”

This is sad. It’s not supposed to be sad, it’s not like the rice farmer Kita Shinsuke about to commit the biggest sacrifice in his entire life and give him this bag of rice as a memento of him. But, he made it look like it did. And that made him more sad.

He could’ve just left the conversation like that and leave. Leave and pretend like any of this has ever happened. Like it ever existed. Because he hates feeling like he had missed something. But for some reason, his legs refused to move, as if it was chained down by a giant concrete ball. Nor does his mouth, for his croaked voice would’ve gave the impression that he was crying inside and he would just make Kita feel bad. But his eyes mostly says it all for Kita.

“You got something on your mind?”

The same question he had asked since last night, and he was feeling nostalgic already. handling sentimentality wasn’t exactly his strong feat.

“Yeah, uh. I--uh” croaked Ushijima, just what he feared would come out. “These past few days…you taught me a lot, Kita-san. I’m sorry that I thought you were a mugger who was trying to steal my luggage”

This time, Ushijima could certainly believe his eyes when Kita giggled gleefully at his response. And his heart aches

“and it was fun…I had fun. Thank you, Kita-san”

Kita smiled. To Ushijima, was probably the brightest he ever seen since last night and was more than enough to pass it as a ‘the pleasure’s mine’.

“Just invite me to one of your games next time. Deal?” Kita held up his hand, almost like he was offering a truce, a handshake that they never shared since the first time Ushijima has set foot there.

He grinned and took his hand, shaking it lightly. His touch lingers somewhere as the other starts to pull away.

Is this what he wanted?

The intercom announced the incoming train to Tokyo transit to Miyagi, loud and clear. And his legs still felt like it had no urge to move just yet. But he stepped inside the opening train cars anyway, and took one last look back at Kita from the sliding doors, idly waving at him. He’s going to miss that funny looking hair.

He did the same, before the sliding doors closed and the only thing that divides them is the glass window and then a blur, and then the view of greens and yellows in rapid speed. And his heart aches once again.

Is this what he wanted?

He had taken down his luggage and sat himself somewhere in the first car to ponder, still clutching the heavy rice bag in his lap. Maybe it was just him, but he could almost see the rice paddy field that they grew together from where he was sitting. It will be ready to harvest again in the next 3-4 months. He clutched harder.

If he had gone home, he would’ve been back to his daily routine.

Back to boring.

Back to lonely.

Would he actually be fine with both?

Would Kita actually be fine with just both?

The answer was clear as day.

It wasn’t enough.

...

“Hello?”

It took him quite a while to drop at the next train stop, and book another train leaving for Hyogo. Just to come back to Kita. Everything seemed to come back to Kita. And so a telephone box was where he wound up in, calling the young farmer out in a heartbeat to pick him up. It seemed so ridiculous and reckless but like any series of unexpected events, he did come. In a heartbeat. But he looked more concerned at the fact that he had to pay double to go back to back just for him and Ushijima felt bad that he made Kita feel bad, but that’s not the point.

What’s important now is that Kita’s here. Running from his car that was parked way too far away from where Ushijima was in an almost panicked and frantic manner, perhaps he forgot to hit the brakes. Once again felling bad for making the poor young man sprint towards him when he could just speed-walk or- oh wait.

Kita seemed surprised, shocked, and satisfied--almost glad to see him.

And he was pretty glad to see him too.

“Ushijima-san, what happened?” he asked in between his ragged breaths.

“I wanted to see you…” Ushijima blurted out, like how every protagonist in a Korean drama would say upon facing the love of their lives.

“Oh, right” Kita looks at him blankly for a while before pulling out his phone “…I forgot to give you my facetime ID-”

“no. not that.” his hands almost made its way into Kita’s phone, he would’ve smashed it to the ground like this was some kind of dramatic soap opera sequence if he hadn’t caught himself in the middle of it and grabbed Kita’s wrist instead.

“Holiday seasons….we still got a month left…”

“Huh?”

“Can I stay here….just a bit longer?” it took Ushijima a second to realize that it came out more as a plead rather than a question.

Kita stared at him as if he wasn’t human, and tried to find the last trace of human in him, but he held down his laughter for way too long amidst all of the panting which led Ushijima to wonder wether Kita’s slowly turning rosy cheeks was the cause of his weird sounding laughter, or an asthma attack. He propped him up anyway before Kita started to fall and die from laughing or a possible asthma attack.

He could feel something similar to a nod rubbing at the other side of his shoulder as he held the young farmer close in his arms.

And that smile was back again, only it was brighter. Perhaps it was the brightest out of all of them.

“Ushijima-san, you’re too funny…”

**Author's Note:**

> So yeah, i really did not expect to start writing again after i abandoned my wattpad account and deleted half of my fics here in ao3 and swore to myself to never ever touch writing again, but quarantine is a dangerous disease that causes you to do literally everything you could to get out of boredom and yes, i am a bit rusty, so please hit me with all the critics that you have with no mercy. 
> 
> i went all the way to research and watching videos about harvesting and cows giving birth just for this damn fic to happen and this one's for YOU ushikita nation.


End file.
